A consortium led by drinks group Constellation Brands last night dropped out of the bidding battle for UK drinks group Allied Domecq. It paves the way for Pernod Ricard, whose takeover of Allied has already been approved, to gain control of the group.

Constellation's consortium, which includes Brown-Forman, another US drinks group, and private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Lion Capital, said in a statement last night that it had not found "sufficient value for submitting an offer" for Allied.